


This Is Why Can't Have Nice Friends

by The_Pied_Writer



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Bi Evan, Gay Connor, Hell yeah there's an ace character, Like not as slow as some college stories on here, M/M, One of the main characters is an OC sorry, Slow Burn, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, You want an ace character?, btw this is gonna get really gay, but still really slow, i have basically no plot prepared so fair warning, it might take jared a little while to appear, listen I just want Connor to have a friend, oh god I'm SO SORRY, there will probably be mild swearing cuz i have no filter so neither will they, you know the one i'm talking about
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-04-29 05:29:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14466036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Pied_Writer/pseuds/The_Pied_Writer
Summary: Evan had finally made it.Even though high school had felt like an inescapable hell, Evan somehow had managed to make it to college. He was proud of himself. The only problem was, now he had to face the hurdles of living away from home at college. Stuttering through every social interaction, passing his classes, and dealing with his odd roommate.Not to mention her sort of really hot friend, Connor, she keeps bringing over.





	1. Nice to Meet You, Sorta

Evan was anxious.

Which, frankly, wasn’t that surprising. It was quite often that Evan was anxious. However, now he actually had a reason to be anxious. In front of him was the door to room 139, and where he’d be living for the rest of the year. Evan was aware he had a roommate, and that it could be anyone since it was gender neutral housing, but anything beyond that was a mystery to him. What if his roommate was creepy? What if they were really loud all the time and brought strange people home? What if they hated Evan?

Before he could send himself spiraling into a dark place, Evan took a deep breath and went to open the door, finding it already unlocked. 

Now or never.

Evan opened the door, and no one was there. And then suddenly someone was there, appearing out of almost thin air. Or more likely, the closet. Evan blinked and tried to make sense of who was his soon to be roommate.

He didn’t like to make assumptions, (because what if his assumption was wrong and the person got angry at him?) but the person standing in front of him seemed to be a girl. The first thing he noticed was her hair. She was brunette, but from her shoulders down to the tips of her hair, which ended about two inches down, her hair was dyed a deep purple. The second thing he noticed was that she was wearing a leather jacket over top of a dark blue shirt paired with some black skinny jeans. And the third thing he noticed was that she was surveying him the exact same way that he had been surveying her. This caused a bout of panic, and Evan became self conscious of what he was wearing. 

Despite his attempt to avoid eye contact, she managed to catch his eye and nodded to him as a way of greeting. Her arms were folded. Was she pissed off at what her roommate had turned out to be? 

They stayed like that for a minute or so, stuck in the awkward silence. Until the girl finally seemed to snap out of the trance, because she perked up and held out her hand. Her movements were stiff and awkward, like someone who had clearly practiced how this introduction was supposed to go. She cleared her throat.

“Hiya. Hello. I’m Aster. She/her pronouns. I guess I should probably ask what your name is and if you have any more bags.” Her voice tilted up at the end, so it ended up sounding more like a question.

“Oh! Uh, yeah. I don’t- I mean, I’m Evan. Evan Hansen. I don’t, um, these are all the bags I-I have.” Internally, Evan cringed at the anxious rambling that just spilled out of his mouth. Not to mention how it was kind of pathetic how he arrived alone with one suitcase and a backpack. Aster didn’t seem to care. She simply nodded, and then quickly turned and flopped onto the bed to Evan’s left. 

“I got here first, so I called this bed.” Her voice came out muffled through the pillow.

Evan shrugged, then felt his face heat up when he realized she couldn’t see him. “Oh, okay.” He took his first look around the room. There were two beds lined up on either side of the door, and desks at the foot of each of them. Two tiny dressers were also to the side of the beds. The only word that came to mind when describing the room with its bare walls and plain colors was small. And maybe bland. 

But for a dorm room, it wasn’t awful. So Evan set about to putting away his things, which consisted of his normal khakis and polos, a box of protein bars, sheets, a couple of sweatshirts, his textbooks, wallet, and a poster of a rainbow eucalyptus tree he had bought online once.

After everything was put into its place, Evan sat down and took a deep breath. Things were fine. The room wasn’t super gross. None of his belongings went missing. His roommate didn’t seem completely awful.

Speaking of which, Aster still hadn’t moved from her position on the bed. Her side of the room was bare, except for the sheets she had put on the bed and a zipped shut bookbag sitting on top of the desk. Was she asleep? Maybe she had to travel far. Evan tried to be quiet as he slipped off his bed and crossed the room to her completely still body. Aster was breathing, which was a small relief. 

“You can quit staring at me, you know.” The figure mumbled. Evan nearly jumped out of his skin.

“I’m sorry! I wasn’t- Well, I didn’t mean- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. That was really rude of me, I’m not sure what I was thinking. Sorry.”

“Chill out, I’m not pissed off or anything. It’s just a little fucking creepy, ya feel me?” Aster sat up and pulled out her phone, checking the time. “Shit. I’ve got to be somewhere. I’ll see you later, I guess.” She grabbed a cardboard box from under her bed that Evan hadn’t seen early and was out the door without another word.

A little shady, but still not too bad.

Evan sighed and crawled onto his bed and under the covers. His exhaustion was catching up with him and he didn’t want to be tired for classes that week. He was vaguely aware that he should probably text or call his mother to let her know he was alright, but his eyelids felt so heavy. And his phone was all the way across the room on his desk. She could wait until the morning. She probably wouldn’t be off of work until then anyway.

Was it rude to fall asleep before your roommate even got back on the first day? Maybe. Still, Aster didn’t tell Evan to wait up for her or anything, so…

Evan fell asleep a few minutes later, dreaming of the prospects that could come from college.


	2. I Just Got Here And I Already Want To Leave

“You realize that you’re gonna be living alone for months, right?” Zoe asked, narrowing her eyes at Connor.

“Of course. That was the whole point of entering the ballot to live alone.” Connor confirmed, and with that he fell back onto the bed. He drove the whole way there, and didn’t feel like moving anything.

There was shuffling down the hall, and then the door was nudged open. It was Alana with a couple more boxes. She set them down opposite of Connor’s bed and pulled out a checklist from God knows where. After musing through it and checking off a couple boxes, Alana looked up and grinned. 

“Alright. I think that’s the last of the boxes. Looks like it’s time to just start unpacking and setting up shop.” Her voice was too chipper, it grated at Connor’s ears.

Throwing an arm over his head, Connor groaned. “How about no?”

A pillow flew at Connor’s head. He wasn’t exactly sure where Zoe got it from. “Alana’s right Connor,” Of course she is, you’re so whipped, “If we don’t help you set up now, I have a feeling none of your things will ever get out of the boxes. Come on, get up. We’ve gotta help you before we leave.” 

Now Zoe and Alana were giving him the puppy eyes. He couldn’t handle this shit. With a lot of grumbling, Connor dragged himself out of bed and they all set about pulling items out of the ridiculously over packed boxes and containers. Connor hadn’t even seen half of this shit before. Mom packed way too much stuff Jesus Christ. A throw pillow? Seriously? I don’t even have a couch what the fuck.

Connor had tuned out of Zoe and Alana’s conversation, but Zoe was looking at him expectantly now so he tried to pay attention.

“Connor, when’s she getting here?” Alana repeated.

He offered her a half shrug, and threw another blanket onto the bed. “I’m not sure. She just said she’d come by today to hang out.”

It was clear Alana tried to conceal her huff, but she failed. “Well, she better hurry up. I wanna be able to see her off before we leave tonight.”

“I mean, she does have to move in today too. Cut her a little bit of slack,” Connor reminded them since they seemingly had forgotten.

“She has a roommate right? I wonder what they’re like,” Zoe butted in.

Another shrug from Connor. “I don’t really care. We’ll probably end up hanging around here more anyway.”

“Aw, is Connor worried he’s going to lose his best friend to a cool roommate?” Zoe teased, earning a snicker from Alana and a huff from Connor.

“No.” Connor was going to argue further, but a knock at the door drew the three friends’ attention. 

“Well, speak of the devil,” Alana muttered.

“And she shall appear,” Zoe finished.

“Could you guys open the door please? This care package is really fucking heavy. I’m pretty sure Mrs. Murphy is trying to feed a small country with this thing,” Connor rolled his eyes, but opened the door to let Aster in.

Aster sauntered over to Connor’s bed and dropped the box onto it. “Alright let’s crack open this motherfucker, shall we?” Aster grinned.

“Oh, I’ll let you have the honors,” Connor replied.

They dealt out the food and ended up eating the food on the floor, because they didn’t know if the cafeteria was open and didn’t feel like walking there anyway. Aster was right, Connor’s mom must have been trying to feed a small country. At the very least, a large city. Fruit cups, protein bars, instant coffee (“I don’t even have a coffee cup? Like it was nice of her but she does realize I’m poor right?”), shit loads of canned food (“Does she think I have the time to cook canned fucking food?”), and some instant noodles Connor was sure that Larry had shoved in there (“Oh thank god now I can have the real college experience”).

“Hey man, can I stay the night? I don’t feel like walking home,” Aster had asked after Alana and Zoe had bid farewell and the two of them were just chilling on Connor’s floor. 

“But there’s only one bed.”

“I can sleep on the floor. It’ll be just like old times.” 

“Fine.” 

The two of them lied in silence for a little while before Connor broke the silence.

“So, is your roommate cool?” Stupid Alana and Zoe freaked him out.

Connor could practically hear her shit eating grin in the dark. “Yeah, but he’s not as cool as you, so don’t worry.”

“Fuck off.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me posting on schedule? It's less likely than you think
> 
> Sorry this chapter is a little short- you see, I didn't want to do it
> 
> I know I said I would have a schedule but I have finals coming up so my posting will be a little sporadic I'm sorry. I'm really excited about next chapter though so it'll probably be longer and more fun
> 
> If you wanna chill with me and my bad memes, my tumblr is gaynarwhal7


	3. Aster and Evan Go Rug Shopping Because,,, Why?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't proofread this a lot so be warned.

It was a week into school when Aster had stormed into the room, sat down on the floor and stared right up at Evan.

“I can’t stand how plain this room is anymore. The first real room I’ve had in years and it has the personality of stale bread and soggy pineapple. We’re going rug shopping.”

Evan looked at her with a confused expression, setting aside his environmental studies textbook and shifting to face her. During their first week together, Evan had collected that Aster didn’t talk much. She wasn’t quite cold towards him, but by the time she got back into their dorm room she would change into her pajamas and go straight to sleep. Another thing he was starting to collect was that she was… odd, and had a much different train of thought then he did.

“What? Wh-why do I have to come with you?” Evan spluttered, trying to think of the reason for why Aster was suddenly forcing him to come with her to buy a rug.

She looked at him incredulously, like the answer was obvious. He looked away uncomfortably. “Because we share this room, and I’d feel bad if I just up and changed the room without your OK.” She fell back against her bed and crossed her arms. “Plus, I figured we could grab coffee or something afterward. If we keep up this whole ‘not talking thing’ then it is going to be a long year.”

Evan chose not to mention that she was the one that hadn’t started any conversations, and focused on the churning in his stomach that was growing stronger as the conversation continued. “I don’t, I don’t really drink c-coffee. It makes me anxious, and really jittery, and I’m sorry. Y-you can go get the rug by, by yourself if you’d like. Sorry, you don’t have to get a rug, but I won’t mind if you do and, and,” Evan trailed off when he realized Aster was just staring at him with an eyebrow raised.

“Listen, I just want to be able to talk. We could get dinner instead. But you’re coming with me for rug shopping. Consider it, like, bonding or something.” Aster half smirked at the end of her sentence and stood up. She really wasn’t that tall. 5’4” at best. 

Evan still felt a little uneasy about the whole idea. It was the first real interaction the two roommates had since their first day, and his mind was currently running on overdrive about all the stupid shit that could ruin everything for the rest of the year.

Aster was still looking at him expectantly, and then let out a frustrated sigh, stepping forward and holding her hand out. “Come on. We’re going to miss the bus if we don’t leave soon. Get on your shoes and we’re going.” 

Evan reluctantly obliged, pulling on his shoes and following her out the door, for fear that he would make her angrier if he didn’t.  
Half an hour later the two of them were standing outside of an old thrift store that Evan had no idea how Aster found, and he was too afraid to question. After dragging Evan to the back of the store, Aster spun around and folded her arms. 

“Alright Evan, it’s time we found ourselves a pretty ass rug!” She declared and gestured to the pile of rugs sitting on the table behind her. The two roommates got to work looking through the rugs, occasionally holding one up for the other to look like they’re considering it before flat out rejecting it. It was at least an hour before the two of them got to the bottom of the pile. Only one rug remained.

“It’s… perfect.” Evan breathed.

“It’s exactly what we need.” Aster agreed, nodding softly.

And so it was settled. Aster rolled up the circle rug and dragged it to the cash register, who was kind enough to give them a bag to put it in. Giving Evan a grin with a wicked glint in her eye, she tugged him outside. It was only mid-September, so it wasn’t cold out yet. The sun was pale in the sky that day, yet Aster still shielded her eyes from it.

“Alrighty. Now that that’s settled, let’s go exploring so we can go eat. I’m starved and I’m not having fucking protein bars for dinner.” 

If Evan was being completely honest, he would much rather eat protein bars in silence than go out to dinner with Aster. To anyone else, that probably sounded really rude. But Aster was just so tiring. For someone so seemingly antisocial, she really jumped at the idea of hanging out. 

“Hello. Earth to Evan. Dude, you zone out a lot.” Evan only offered her a shrug in response. “One thing you don’t do a lot is talk, huh.” Evan’s mouth twisted and he scrunched up his nose in offense.

“It’s not that I don’t talk much. It’s just that- It’s just that if I don’t have enough time to plan out what I’m saying I might blurt out everything, and that’s embarrassing. And I then I talk too much or-”

“Okay I get it,” Aster cut him off, “Please don’t fucking pop a blood vessel over it.” Evan managed an eye roll, and Aster snickered. 

“See? That’s better. I’m generally a dickhead so I need to make sure you can take my sarcasm and comments or this situation could turn sour real quick.” Aster was walking again, and Evan tried to listen to her and check out the restaurants they were passing while keeping up with her.

The town their college was in looked pretty this time of year. The leaves of the trees were just beginning to turn to warm colors, and it gave the town a welcoming feel. Aster muttered something about how many Starbucks there were around and turned off onto a back alley. Brick walls surrounded them as the two freshmen made their way to another street. 

Please don’t get lost. Please don’t get lost. Aster I’m trusting you here but please don’t get lost- Evan chanted in his head, clinging to his mantra as she wandered down the street. Luckily they seemed to be on a main road now. Aster stopped out of nowhere, and Evan had to catch himself from slamming into her.

Aster whipped around with a resigned look on her face and jerked a thumb to the restaurant next to them. It was a dingy looking pizza place called “Tony’s Pepperoni” and Evan turned his unimpressed stare to Aster. 

“Listen, I’m not exactly the richest person right now, there’s only so much I can do,” she offered helplessly. 

“That’s fair.” Evan was in no position to judge.

Aster nodded as if agreeing. With Evan or herself, Evan wasn’t quite sure. 

Shaking her head, Aster opened the door and overdramatically gestured into the restaurant. Evan didn’t even bother concealing his eye roll this time. Aster narrowed her eyes and followed him in. To ignore her, Evan scanned over the menu. Oh shit, I’m going to have to order in front of Aster. Evan let out a breath and glanced over at Aster, who was looking at him expectantly.

“What?” Why did she always look so suspicious of him?

“You look like you’re about to have an aneurysm. What’s up?” 

Evan shook his head. This was too much. Getting the rug, trekking across town, having to order pizza in front of Aster. This was supposed to be a “bonding activity” or whatever bullshit Aster had called it but Evan couldn’t stand it. Breathing, that’s something he was supposed to do. Evan grabbed at his sweatshirt and then smoothed it out, repeating the motion as he inhaled and exhaled in counted breaths. Fuck, now Aster looked super concerned. Damn it, she was the reason for this. If she hadn’t insisted on this stupid trip-

There was a hand wrapped around his wrist, and he was being dragged across the room and sat down at a booth. Aster was in front of him, and then she disappeared. Evan tried to focus on his breathing. A minute passed and Evan could breathe properly. Another and he could rest his hands on the table without them shaking. After a couple more, a water was set in front of him and Aster was back. Out of embarrassment, Evan tried to look anywhere but at Aster. The table had a cringey pizza design on it. Aster nudged the water towards him, so Evan hesitantly took a sip. He refused to make eye contact with her still.

“So… do you have anxiety or something?” Aster blurted, and Evan almost choked on his water.  
He coughed and sheepishly nodded. She looked nonplussed. “One of my friends has anxiety and can have some pretty bad anxiety attacks, so I’m not surprised. It just seemed like one, so I…” Aster gestured vaguely, “ya know.”

Aster perked up. “I ordered a cheese pizza by the way, so it should be over in a minute.”

“You really think we can eat an entire pizza?” He questioned, unconvinced.

“Meh.” Aster shrugged. “We can save the leftovers. Plus I eat like any food available, so I doubt it’ll be too big of an issue.”

The awkward silence was back. Aster chewed at her lip and cleared her throat. Oh boy.

“So,” Aster prompted, “What are you majoring in?”

“Environmental science.” Evan replied, “Um, and you?”

“Accounting. My friend, his name’s Connor, well his dad runs some law firm and he said accounting would be the best way to go if I wanted a job there.”

“Sorry if this is rude, it probably is but why not a lawyer?”

“I dunno. Being a lawyer just seemed too difficult. Numbers never change, you feel me? People are hard to read and to be honest, I don’t feel like trying.”

On that note, the pizza arrived, and Aster dished out the slices. She gestured towards Evan with her slice of pizza, flinging hot grease onto the table. “How about you? Why’d you go into environmental science? You don’t exactly look like like the usual hippies.” 

Evan tried to ignore the fact she was talking with her mouth full, which was kind of gross, and bit into his piece of pizza so that he’d have more time to answer. Why did he go into environmental science? What would that degree possibly do for him?

Evan shrugged. 

“You’re a man of few words, Mr.Hansen.” Aster stated solemnly. 

He couldn’t help but start to smile. And then looking at Aster’s face made him grin, and then he was laughing, and she was joining in, and they couldn’t stop. What were they laughing at? They sure as hell didn’t know. 

When she caught her breath, Aster smiled wide and clicked her tongue. “You know, I think we could count this bonding activity a success, whadya think?”

“I agree.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah yeah I know, it's been months since I last posted I think. But this one is a whole lot longer so cut me some slack.
> 
> Pretty sure that this fic is mostly going to be from Evan's perspective because alternating isn't working out in my planning. 
> 
> As always come shout to me on my tumblr, gaynarwhal7.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
